Hangin' 'round the Mistletoe
by doggieearlover
Summary: Kagome gets more than she bargained for when she spies a plant that looks like one from her era. Takes place the last Chrstmas season before the final battle with Naraku.
1. Hangin' 'round the Mistletoe

Disclaimers: I do not own InuYasha or any of the manga/anime characters. They belong to the wonderful genius Rumiko Takahashi.

This is in response to the gift!fic post that I made at LiveJournal, offering a drabble or oneshot in the spirit of the season to those that requested them. I hope they don't mind, but I married two of them for this particular piece. The prompts that each of them gave just sort of complimented one another.

**prompt from browneyedmami** - _some Inu/Kag something with them in the snow?_

**prompt from ladyathenis** - _While out on their travels, Kagome finds a bunch of mistletoe growing from a tree branch, and tells Inuyasha the XMas tradition of "kissing under the mistletoe"..._

* * *

**Hangin' 'round the Mistletoe**

For the life of him, InuYasha could not figure out why Kagome had gone out alone, in the snow. He'd barely found them cover and marched them to it in time before it started coming down so hard they could scarely see where they were going. They loudly complained as he practically ran them to the abandoned hut and then barked orders to go out and get as much firewood as they could carry and drag it all inside. They bitched and moaned and didn't comprehend the urgency – until the first flakes started to fall. Suddenly, they understood why the hanyou had pushed them so relentlessly and hurried about their tasks so that a large stack of firewood was now piled in the corner.

Somehow, in their flurry of activity, no one noticed that the young miko had gone missing.

With a string of curses and a command to the others to stay put so he didn't have to go hunting in the snowstorm for them too, InuYasha left the rabbits he'd found with them and took off in search of Kagome.

. . .

The miko really had not intended to wander off. She had started by looking for suitable firewood, but then glanced up and saw something she didn't expect. "Mistletoe?" she whispered as she started towards the bare tree that honestly, didn't look that far away. Kagome really didn't notice when the snow started to flutter down and began to blanket the ground around her. Clutching her coat tightly to her body, she continued towards the plant that reminded her of the current season in her era - Christmas.

She found herself humming Christmas songs as she made her way towards her target. Trying to keep in as direct a line as possible, she made her way through and over brush and rocks that impeded her path. "Finally," she said when she was standing at the base of the tree the elusive plant resided in. "Maybe a sprig of this along with the story about the tradition from my time will finally give Sango an excuse to let Miroku kiss her," she said, thinking aloud. She didn't dare hope that InuYasha might want to partake in the custom.

Sighing, she stood on her tiptoes and stretched upwards towards the holiday plant. Just as she grabbed a hold of it so that she could pull the branch lower to break a piece off, the plant lashed out with tendrils and tightly wrapped her hand and wrist, and began curling down her arm towards to her shoulder. When she tried to untangle herself with her other hand, the plant immediately trapped that arm as well.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she struggled against the tangle of vines. "This really wasn't how I wanted to spend Christmas." She stopped fighting as a sense of hopelessness washed through her. Kagome closed her eyes and let her head droop. She wondered if the others even missed her – if they knew she was gone. And then the miko was hit with despair as it occurred to her that they probably didn't care – that she was just a nuisance they had to constantly rescue. Sure, Shippou might miss her, but even he hadn't been all that affectionate since the Kitsune Inn. Maybe she'd been wrong to sit InuYasha for being a little aggressive to the little full youkai that was supposedly his friend, the one that was using him to advance his rank in the test.

Her chest hurt when she thought about InuYasha, and how he'd probably never get over Kikyou's death. Sure she'd saved him from Kaou, but did he really want to be saved? And did he regret that he was stuck with her again?

Kagome did not realize that as she fell into the pits of her own despair, the vine was slowly covering her arms completely and would eventually start down the rest of her body. She also did not feel the cold that had started to permeate her to the bone.

. . .

"Fuck it all to hell!" InuYasha cursed as he searched for the missing member of his group. "What was she thinking? No, of course, she _wasn't_ thinking… Damn it, Kagome, I'm going to kill you when I find you." His mood suddenly turned from anger to worry. The temperature was falling and he knew she would not be able to survive the night alone in the wilderness unless she'd come across some kind of shelter.

Fortunately, as he circled away from the lonely hut, he found where she had crushed some brush as she made a path to wherever the hell it was that she was going. Breathing a sigh of relief that he at least had a direction now, he started following her trail. It didn't take long before he realized she was making a beeline to something, but to what? Visibility was not that great so he kept trudging through the snow towards an unknown destination.

"Oh, fuck no!" he nearly screamed as he finally saw the girl trapped by the vines in the tree. He was already pulling his haori off to wrap around her as soon as he reached her. Not wanting to get trapped immediately himself, he placed it around her as best he could and wiped the bits of ice clinging to her cheeks away.

"Kagome? Kagome," he nearly whispered, trying not to allow his voice to waver to show his lingering fear. He didn't just slice her free in fear that it might make things ten times worse. He'd learned some things, like not underestimating a plant youkai, the hard way.

"InuYasha… I'm so sorry…" she responded, though she did not open her eyes or lift her head.

"You're freezing," he said softly as he pulled her against him. Looking up at her hands and arms tangled in the demonic vine, he picked her up and with some coaxing, got her to wrap her legs around him so that he could in turn pull her against him to try to begin to warm her up.

"What are you doing out here," he asked.

"Mistletoe… Christmas tradition… I wanted a piece," she murmured.

"What does it do?" He realized she most likely thought it was the same plant as something from her time. Knowing the girl, she was probably trying to bring it to them.

"You're supposed to kiss under it," she stated.

"Ki…kiss…?" he anxiously responded.

"Yeah… I wanted it for Sango and Miroku…" He felt her tears leaking against his shoulder where her head was nestled. "I knew you'd _never_ want to kiss me…"

'_Oh, Kagome… you don't know…'_ he thought. The hanyou felt a new round of tears as her body wracked with her soft sobs. He also noticed that the more into despair she fell, the more the vines seemed to move and tighten their grip.

"It's a tradition, from your time… to… to… kiss… under…" he'd forgotten the name she called it.

"the mistletoe," she finished for him.

"You really… you really wanted to kiss… _me_?" InuYasha questioned.

"More than anything," she whispered. "It's all I really wanted for Christmas."

"I'm sorry we're too far away from the well for you to see your family, but I can do this," the hanyou said softly.

He gently cupped her chin in his hand and pulled it upwards. Hesitantly, he lowered his lips to hers. Even with her arms stretched over her head, she practically melted into him. The miko's legs tightened around his torso and her lips slightly parted, allowing him to slip his tongue into her mouth. He wasn't even certain why he'd done it other than it felt like the right thing to do at the moment. Her tongue began to gently wrestle with his as they languidly slid over and around one another. The next thing he knew, her arms were wrapped tightly around him and were rubbing his back as he stumbled away from the plant and the tree where it nested.

They finally were forced apart by the simple need for oxygen. InuYasha couldn't help but to blush, but he refused to let go of the girl in his arms.

"What happened?" Kagome asked, finally opening her eyes for the first time since he'd found her.

"Keh," the hanyou nodded towards the innocent looking bright green clump that stood out from the bare branches now dusted with snow that surrounded it. "I found you tangled up in that. You said you were trying to bring a piece of it back to the others."

Kagome turned bright red as she realized her position. She struggled to pull free, but InuYasha refused to let her go. "Oh, no you don't. You're still cold, wench."

"Did you cut me free?" she asked.

"I was going to… but I don't remember actually doing it. I think the fucking thing just let you go…" he didn't finish with what he was thinking, _'when I kissed you.'_

Kagome's eyes opened wide. "You really kissed, me, didn't you?"

InuYasha blushed and looked away, but nodded.

"And it let me go when you did," she added.

He nodded again in return.

"It must be related to those vines that Naraku had for illusionary death…" Kagome speculated. "Except this one was feeding on my despair. When I started to feel warm and happy, it spit me out…"

She wrapped her arms tightly around the hanyou again and whispered, "Why… why did you do it?"

"Because you wanted me to," he responded softly.

"But did you want to…" she was almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Yes," he said, barely loud enough for her human ears to hear.

InuYasha found himself holding onto the young miko who had started with a new round of sobs against his shoulder. "I'm sorry – I'll take it back if you want me to! Please, don't cry…"

Kagome smiled and used one hand to wipe her tears away. She pulled back so she could meet his eyes. "I'm happy, silly. More than you can believe."

"So you're not upset that I…"

She shook her head. "No."

InuYasha looked warily at the ball of green. "You don't still want to take a sprig of that stuff back with us, do you? I mean, is that what the plant in your time does? Force you to kiss or else it eats you?"

The miko laughed. "No, of course not! Ours is just a plant. Well, it's a parasite because it lives off of trees, but it's still just a plant. I wonder if that's how the legend got started though? No one really knows where it came from, especially in this country. They'd always assumed the Europeans brought it with them, but what if it grew from tales about the demonic plant in this era? What if people learned that kissing under it was a way to get it to set them free? I mean, it could have happened, couldn't it?"

"I've heard weirder things," the hanyou commented. He also realized that the sun was getting awfully low on the horizon. "Are you ready to go back? We won't have light for much longer and the temperature is already dropping. I don't want you to get sick again."

"Do you mind carrying me like this?" she asked quietly. "You've got me all nice and snug and warm."

"If you want, but I'll have to go slower than I can with you on my back," he answered.

"If you're in a hurry, I understand," she whispered. "I just wanted…"

He tightened his grip around her as he trudged through the snow. "No, it's okay. I'm just worried about you – being a pitiful human and all."

"I know – you're a big strong hanyou and the cold doesn't affect you," she stated.

"Just not as much as you…" he fell silent for a few minutes before he spoke again, "Kagome?"

"Yeah, InuYasha?"

"About…well… you know…"

"The kiss?" she clarified.

"Yeah…"

"You want to take it back… you wish you hadn't done it," the miko said as she held back a fresh round of tears.

"No, that's not it," he insisted as he felt her tense up in his arms. "It's just… the others…"

She relaxed again and understood his fears. "You don't want them to know."

"I'm sorry…" he apologized.

She squeezed him in return. "I understand… I really do. Miroku and Shippou will tease you mercilessly, and Sango will never stop interrogating me for more details."

"Not just that," he said, "Naraku… if he found out…"

"He would make things even more complicated than they already are," Kagome finished for him.

InuYasha nodded in return as he stopped. "We're here."

"It'll be our secret – for now," the miko whispered as she untangled her legs and he helped her stand. "Thank you for finding me – and giving me the best Christmas gift I've ever received."

InuYasha was actually grinning as he ushered her through the door and into the heat and light of the small hut.

The others welcomed Kagome back and pulled her to sit by the fire as they took care of her, bringing her a blanket and food they had ready. She told them her tale about how she'd become trapped while searching for firewood, and InuYasha had rescued her before carrying her back to the hut. The hanyou watched in silent amusement and briefly touched his lips as he remembered how hers felt against them. And while he really did not comprehend her tradition of Christmas, he did understand that he'd been given a gift as well – not just her love for him that had become abundantly clear, but in the things she'd taught him. Because of Kagome, that girl who fell from five hundred years in the future to rip him out of his eternal slumber, he actually had friends for the first time in his life.

"InuYasha, wouldn't you like some of this rabbit you caught for us earlier?" Sango asked, intruding upon his thoughts.

Nodding, he moved to join them. Sitting down next to the miko, he accepted his dinner from Sango.

"We are grateful you were able to return Kagome to us unharmed," Miroku said.

"Keh. It was nothing. Couldn't just leave the wench out in the snow." He failed miserably at trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing.

Kagome couldn't help but to smile and lean against his shoulder. He blushed, but the corners of his lips just barely quirked upwards as his thoughts that'd been interrupted continued. Because of the miko braced against his shoulder, he knew what love was – both to receive, and to give. He wasn't thinking as he leaned over to kiss her as the others stared wide-eyed.

He was broken from his trance by Miroku's voice, "So, just what were you two doing out there for so long?"

'_Shit! I'll never live that down,'_ he thought as his cheeks quickly matched the shade of red of his firerat.

"You'll never know since gentlemen don't kiss and tell," Kagome calmly answered as she squeezed his arm.

Sango and Miroku both grinned as Sango slapped Miroku's wandering hand away from her butt.

They were all interrupted by a sleepy voice as Shippou sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What's going on? What did I miss?"

"Nothing!" they all exclaimed together.

"Kagome's back!" he shouted with glee as he ran to her.

And, just like that, thanks to the small kitsune child that no one wanted to have to explain what had happened to, everything was back to normal – for now.

* * *

And here's the lyrics to the song I borrowed the title for. Somehow, it all seemed to fit in one way or another:

**Hangin' 'round the Mistletoe**

Snowy days and frosty night, everything looks cold and white  
Hangin' 'round the mistletoe, hangin' 'round the mistletoe

Christmas day will soon be here, and everybody's full of cheer  
Hangin' 'round the mistletoe, waitin' for you dear

Well, I've waited all year long and nore the year is almost gone  
Hangin' 'round the mistletoe, hangin' 'round the mistletoe

But if that's what I've gotta do just to get a kiss from you  
Hangin' 'round the mistletoe, waitin' for you dear

Christmas is a special time to give and to receive  
For every little kiss you give me I will give you three

You ain't gonna miss one kiss, that's one thing you'll never miss  
I'm hangin' 'round the mistletow waitin' for you dear

Well, I've had my eyes on you for a long, long time  
So, I'm asking Santa please, make that pretty girl mine

Waited till I'm cold and blue just to get a kiss from you  
I'm hangin' 'round the mistletoe, waitin' for you dear

Hangin' 'round the mistletoe, waitin' for you dear

Credits: Kostas (Songwriter); SEVEN ANGELS MUSIC (Publisher); UNIVERSAL-SONGS OF POLYGRAM INT'L (Publisher)


	2. The Monk and the Mistletoe

Disclaimers: I do not own InuYasha or any of the manga/anime characters. They belong to the wonderful genius Rumiko Takahashi.

**Okay, so I had no intention of writing a follow-up piece for "Hangin' 'round the Mistletoe" but once I had this idea, it just wouldn't go away. After all, Miroku and Sango need to see the demonic plant for themselves.**

* * *

**The Monk and the Mistletoe**

"Well, what do you know – they were telling the truth," Miroku commented as he and Sango made their way through the snow.

They were still holed up in the hut that InuYasha had managed to find for them before the blizzard hit. It had been a couple of days and if they stayed much longer, they would run out of firewood. The monk and demon slayer had volunteered to go and search for some more wood to bring back. They knew it would be cold and damp, but if they brought it back before they ran completely out, then maybe it would have a chance to dry out before they actually had to use it. If nothing else, they'd let Shippou practice his foxfire on it and hopefully speed up the process that way.

The pair had finally managed to get Kagome and InuYasha to tell the truth about her entrapment and rescue – especially once he made it clear she wasn't going back out in it again. They really didn't know how long she'd been chilled, and she was in danger of becoming ill. So far she was holding up fairly well, but the hanyou wasn't taking any chances. So, in exchange for sending Miroku and Sango out in the cold, they had agreed to tell them about the demonic mistletoe.

While Sango had heard of the plant and even seen it once or twice, Miroku never had. He wanted to go and see the mystery youkai for himself and figured getting the firewood was as good an excuse as any. Once they found out how Kagome was trapped, they would have gone out in the snow, anyway. Sango wanted to make certain the innocent-looking but dangerous parasite was not where humans could easily come in contact with it as well as to see if she could destroy it. The monk just wanted to see the miracle that forced the two to kiss, and in return, finally admit their feelings for one another. They may not have done so openly, but their interaction since returning to the hut together that fateful snowy evening confirmed a world of change in their relationship. No, they had not kissed again in front of them like they had when they first returned and seemed to have forgotten the others were even there, but their gentle touches and whispers demonstrated their affection for one another. An average person might never really notice, but to Miroku and Sango, it was like someone had put up a billboard.

Fortunately, Shippou was still completely oblivious. So while he was out playing in the snow, Miroku and Sango had decided it was time to make Kagome and InuYasha fess up. After all, it wasn't the first time the hanyou had rescued the miko, so something had clearly been different this time.

"I don't understand what would attract people to it close enough to ensnare them," Miroku commented as he approached the tree that hosted the plant. He stopped when he was almost close enough to touch it and cocked his head as he visually went over it.

Sango moved up just behind him. "See those berries?"

The monk nodded.

The slayer continued, "Birds like them a lot and can sit in the plant and eat them with no problem. Most humans will consider that if it is safe for a common bird to eat, then it is probably safe for them to consume, too. However, when a person reaches up to pick the berries, they invariably find themselves trapped."

"But why not just cut the vines to free the victim?" Miroku asked.

Sango responded, "InuYasha was wise not to do that. If the vine is cut it releases a toxin that effectively paralyzes the one trying to escape. So, if the plant doesn't get you, some other creature probably will before you can recover. Not to mention, it really stinks. InuYasha with his sensitive nose wouldn't have had a chance.

"No, don't!" the demon slayer yelled – too late.

Miroku had reached up to touch the rounded mass of vines and yelped when they immediately wrapped around his fingers. "I didn't think it would be so fast!"

Sango huffed in irritation. "You probably did that on purpose. What would you do if I just left you here to rot?"

"Sango… I really didn't mean to become trapped. "Let me—"

"NO!" But she was too late. Just like Kagome, he now had both hands trapped by the plant.

"I seem to have managed to get myself into a predicament," the monk commented.

"Well, I could back up far enough and see if I can cut you free with Hiraikotsu," Sango contemplated out loud. "That way we both wouldn't be incapacitated by the miasma from the plant."

"But how long would I be out for?" he anxiously asked.

The slayer shrugged. "I don't know. It has been known to be fatal. I guess you're just stuck there, Houshi."

Panic and despair started to creep its way through the Buddhist monk – feelings that he was mostly unaccustomed to. "Sango, please… don't leave me here like this. After everything… you know I'd do anything for you… I may have bad habits, and I still occasionally proposition a girl—"

That only made Sango glare at him.

"But I have truly wanted no other than you for… well, I don't know for how long," he admitted. "Please, free me from this and I'll do whatever you want."

"Like resist groping me for at least the next moon cycle?" she questioned.

"If that is what you want," he responded.

"And it's not like you can grope me now," she observed. His hands were tied up over his head after all.

"All right – don't make me regret this. And don't you dare tell the others," Sango commanded.

Miroku only nodded.

The youkai exterminator leaned her large weapon against the nearest tree that wasn't the one hosting the pesky plant. She then moved in front of Miroku and hesitantly cupped his face in her hands to pull it to hers. Her lids fluttered shut and her hands dropped as their lips moved gently together. She didn't even know when she allowed him to deepen the kiss or when her hands moved from her sides where she was determined to keep them to his back, where they roamed up and down. Sango actually grinned to herself as her fingers made their way down his backside and unexpectedly and really unintentionally firmly gripped his buttocks through his robes and squeezed.

Miroku moaned as he relished the feel of her wandering hands and suddenly found his own free once again. He wasted no time in going straight for the slayer's butt and cupping a cheek in each hand. The monk gently kneaded her buttocks until she suddenly pulled away and hit him - hard.

"Hey! You promised not to grope me!" Sango said indignantly.

The monk grinned and rubbed his cheek. "I said I would promise if that was what you wanted. You did not tell me one way or the other so said promise was not clarified and made. And it only seemed fair since you were groping me."

"I… I… I was not! I was just trying to get the plant to turn you lose!" she insisted.

"If you say so," he commented offhandedly. "Though I must say, you are an outstanding kisser."

"Really?" she said softly. "No! You're just trying to trick me."

"Am I, now?" he asked quietly.

Sango huffed."I… Let's just destroy this thing, gather our firewood, and get back."

"And how do you propose we destroy it? It is too frozen to burn, and we can't just cut it out of the tree," the monk observed.

"No, maybe we can," she wondered out loud. "If I can cut it out of its host with Hiraikotsu, it'll fall to the ground. It can't survive without a tree since it's a parasite, and the earth under it is frozen. It should go dormant and then shrivel up and die."

"I could just suck it up in my kazaana," he offered.

Sango shook her head. "The vines really are filled with a miasma that's pretty poisonous. It's not worth taking a chance for. It's not like it can go out and hunt down its on prey – the prey has to come to it. In this weather, without its host tree, I don't think it will live for very long."

"All right, Sango. Let us move back and give you a clear shot then." Miroku stepped back, giving the taijiya room to work.

"Hiraikotsu!" The bone boomerang flew gracefully through the air, sliced off the branch that the youkai Mistletoe was attached to, and returned. "That should take care of it," Sango commented.

"Thank you, Sango," the monk said solemnly as she brushed the particles of ice off of her weapon. "And I want you to know that I meant what I said."

She furrowed her brow. "Which part?"

Miroku just grinned.


End file.
